Performance Measurementsin Internet2

Guy Almes <almes@internet2.edu>

Geneve – 15 March 2004

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Outline

Infrastructure Observations

Software Observations

The Measurements

Putting it all together

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Infrastructure Observations

From 1983 to the present, we have partial meshes and growth in b/s rates:

• 1983: 50 kb/s ARPAnet• 1988: 1.5 Mb/s NSFnet• 1992: 45 Mb/s NSFnet• 1995: 155 Mb/s vBNS => 622 Mb/s• 1998: 2.4 Gb/s Abilene => 9.6 Gb/s

But this rapid growth is now stopping• either stopping at 10 Gb/s or perhaps merely slowed growth

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Abilene Backbone Network

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The partial-mesh with growing b/s rates approach is now ending

Several new approaches are promising:• fuller mesh (=> fewer hops)• dynamic mesh

–adaptive based on measurements–scheduled by users or on-demand

• larger MTUs• focus on effective file transfer

These will be interesting times

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Implications of these new styles• Exciting ideas to be created, tested, deployed• Uncertainty with regard to future end-states• Turmoil during transition from present to future

Increasing holistic attitude to networking• from 'my part works'• to 'ensure system works end to end'

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Software Observations

Evolution of TCP control algorithms• 1986-1992: dramatic improvement

–basis for effective use of wide-area 1.5 Mb/s networks

• 1992-2002: relative neglect–while wide-area networks grew to 2.5 Gb/s

• since about 2003: renewed research vigor–FAST–HS-TCP–Other very good work at Cambridge, Hamilton, North

Carolina State, Rice, Univ Illinois Chicago

Uncertainty

Turmoil

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The Measurements

Items to be measured• TCP throughput• one-way delay (and round-trip)• variation in delay• packet loss• increasingly relevant

Active and passive

Relationship to security trends

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Separate applications of compatible measurements

• within core of a given network (within core)• aggregated sets of networks (extended core?)• between file servers of a given grid (edge to edge)• from grid site to core (edge to core)

Technical accuracy of great importance

Reporting: focusing on near-worst-case• think about performance that is almost always delivered• supports taking a quality control attitude at several layers

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Putting it all Together

User communities are learning to quantify their requirements

Networks then accept the challenge (or not)

Network groups measure their networks

User groups measure delivered performance

Mutual accountability and support

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